Light and Water
by RainxSilhouette
Summary: Katara and Zuko find themselves separated from the rest of the group when Appa falls from the sky and drops everyone into a deep forest. The two enemies find themselves growing closer and closer. When fire and water come together, they create... steam


The crescent moon rose high above the vast forest as Katara struggled to find her friends. Appa had fallen asleep while he was flying and everyone had fallen to the ground. She hoped everyone was okay.

'Well, maybe not Zuko," she thought.

Zuko had recently joined their group after promising to teach Aang how to firebend. She couldn't understand why Aang allowed him to travel with them, especially after being betrayed by him at the cave.

All Zuko had ever done was chase them and attack them. Why should he suddenly have a change of heart?

Katara suddenly tripped over a tree root and fell as she yelped in surprise. Her ankle was cut deeply and blood was already trickling down her foot. If only she had some water with her, she could heal the wound, but strangely, she hadn't seen a trickle of water in this forest.

An owl hooted from a tree somewhere above. She froze on the spot. She hadn't realized how creepy the place was. She felt a shiver go down her spine, but swallowed her fears and got on her feet. She walked for a couple of minutes and felt as if she was being followed by something. She turned slowly and scanned the area behind her.

Nothing but dark trees and bushes…Then she saw that one of the shadows that she thought was a tree was… breathing????

Katara backed away slowly, hoping the thing wouldn't follow her. The thing moved into the moonlight, showing its form. It was a saber-toothed moose. And it looked angry. Katara started running at full speed away from the animal, but she could feel it gaining on her by the second. Her wounded ankle gave out underneath her. The saber-toothed moose roared as it prepared to pounce on her. Katara shut her eyes and screamed.

Suddenly, a huge burst of fire erupted out of nowhere as the moose was thrown back. It stampeded toward whoever had attacked, only to be enveloped in a tornado of fire. Katara saw a lean, muscular figure emerge into the open. She couldn't make out his face, but his blurry features in the moonlight showed that he was very attractive, with his hair rustling in the wind and his strong sharp jaw clenched in concentration. The stranger shot two more fireballs at the animal and sent it whimpering away with its tail between its legs.

Once the animal had disappeared from sight, the figure turned to face Katara. A pair of golden eyes started walking toward her. Those eyes were strangely familiar…

"Katara? Are you okay?" the figure said.

"Zuko???" Katara yelled in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I landed a short distance from here. Then I saw you running from that moose back there." Zuko said. Truthfully, he wasn't expecting any thanks from Katara, after how she had treated him all along.

He was right.

"I didn't need your help! I was doing fine on my own." she pouted as she tried to stand up. Her weak ankle gave out beneath her and she fell to the ground again.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay." Zuko sighed. "Just hurry up and heal your ankle."

"I would if there was any water around this place. So much for being in a forest." she replied dryly. She had even tried to bend water out of the trees, but they were drier than sand.

"Alright then, I guess we'll have to do it the old fashioned way." Zuko ripped a piece of cloth from his sleeve and knelt down by Katara. "You're losing too much blood." he muttered as he worked. "We have to find the others quickly."

Katara blushed as she watched him tie the cloth around her bleeding ankle. She had to admit, the sight of her once-worst-enemy trying to wrap her wounds was slightly unsettling. The moonlight lit up his angular face, on the side where his scar was. Once, she had looked upon that scar and felt fear. It was the mark of her enemy. But now, she was filled with empathy… and guilt. He had taught Aang how to firebend, and was rebelling against his own father for the good of the world. She felt ashamed of herself for treating him like dirt, but her pride would not let her apologize.

Zuko focused on wrapping Katara's ankle, but he could sense her gaze on him. His scar, more to be exact.

He had gotten used to people staring at his scar, but somehow, he felt embarrassed when Katara looked at it. He put more haste into his work and tied the cloth with a tight knot.

"Okay, let's get going." Zuko stood up and offered a hand to Katara. She hesitated for a moment, then took his hand. The two started walking, and after a few seconds, Zuko realized she was limping. He sighed and stooped to the ground on one knee, his back toward Katara.

"Get on." He mumbled.

"What??"

"You're limping. You shouldn't be walking with that ankle in the first place." he replied gruffly.

"Oh, I thought Mr. High and Mighty Prince of Fire Nation doesn't get on the ground for anyone." she scoffed sarcastically.

It was true. If he was in the fire nation, he would never have gotten on the ground for anyone. But then again, he was wanted as a criminal in the fire nation.

"Being a fire nation prince wont help me in this situation." he retorted angrily. "Look, we need to get you to civilization, if u don't want your wound to be infected. Just get on."

Katara gave him a long look, then gave up and got on his back. Once on his back, she couldn't help but to admire his strong, muscled shoulders and back.

'What am I thinking???' she thought as she quickly dismissed her image from her mind.

3 hours later

Zuko felt Katara's soft breath on his neck and almost jumped before he realized she had fallen asleep. He felt his own heart pounding and he took a deep breath to calm down.

He had been walking for a while now with no sight of anything. The best he could do was to find a place that they could rest before looking for the rest of the group the next morning. He looked around for a place that could be used as shelter, and just ahead, he saw a small cave. He picked up his speed and walked toward it.

The cave was small, a tight fit, but it would have to do. He gently laid Katara on the ground and used his own cloak to cover her. The way the moonlight lit up her face made him think of an angel. He unconsciously reached his hand out to touch her face, then suddenly stopped, realizing what he was doing. He sighed, wondering why it was only this girl that made him feel so… cautious. He glanced at her sleeping form one last time before he himself fell deeply asleep.

Katara woke to the sound of trickling water. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a cave, and Zuko was sitting, asleep, a few feet away from her. She blushed when she noticed she was wearing his cloak. She followed the sound of the trickling water and saw it, right by her feet. There was a thin stream of water flowing from a crevice in the cave wall that fell into a small pool of water. She gasped when she saw it. It was the same type of rare healing water that she had been given during her stay in the northern water tribe.

Katara bent the water from the pool into her bending-water pouch. She drank some and felt completely refreshed. Then she remembered her ankle and healed the wound using the water. She picked up the bandage that Zuko had tied around her ankle. She smiled subconsciously.

"Maybe he's a good guy after all." she looked at Zuko's sleeping form, his face surprisingly peaceful and relaxed. It was nothing like the terrifying fire prince who had chased them for so long.

- A couple of minutes later -

Katara suddenly realized she had been staring at Zuko's face for a while. She quickly turned away blushing madly and concentrated on healing her ankle. In a few minutes, she was done. Not a scar was left.

"Scars…" Katara thought, as she glanced over at Zuko. "Maybe…"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


End file.
